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Medical Effects of Internal Contamination with Uranium, URANIO: cronaca e documenti, giovedì 20 maggio 2010 Medical,Journal v.40, n.1, Mar99, by Asaf Durakoviæ, Department of Nuclear Medicine, Georgetown University School of Medicine, Washington D.C., USA “……….The turning point, which brought uranium studies to the high level of scientific attention, was the advent of World War II. It resulted in the most comprehensive experimental investigation of any poison conducted in a relatively short time (72). This was carried out as part of the Manhattan Project. The Research Center at the University of Rochester was predominantly concerned with inhalational studies of uranium dust, whereas research projects at the University of Chicago studied uranium pathways and toxicology after ingestion or parenteral administration in various animal models and on human volunteers (73). Animal studies were conducted after oral, intravenous, or intraperitoneal administration, application to the eye and the skin, and after inhalational exposure. There are three major routes of internal contamination with uranium: 1) gastrointestinal system; 2) skin and wounds; and 3) inhalation and transalveolar transfer to the blood stream.

Medical Effects of Internal Contamination with Uranium, URANIO: cronaca e documenti, giovedì 20 maggio 2010 Medical,Journal v.40, n.1, Mar99, by Asaf Durakoviæ, Department of Nuclear Medicine, Georgetown University School of Medicine, Washington D.C., USA “…..Medical concerns regarding exposure to uranium can be traced to European silver mines, mainly those in the Erz Mountains, Schneeburg and Joachimstall (Jachmov, now in Germany). Long before the discovery of radioactivity in 1896, it was observed for over five centuries that mine workers were dying of “black lung disease”. Medical studies of this century reported a 50% incidence of lung cancer in these areas (113). The current radiation hazards on those sites is estimated at about 2.9×10-9 Ci. The earlier estimated hazard was higher, in the range of 1.5×10-8 Ci. Canadian data on uranium miners in Newfoundland reported that 51 out of 142 cancer deaths were due to lung cancer in workers who spent 2,000 hours in the underground mines. Uranium was the only oncological hazard identified in that study (114). The United States studies on biological effects of uranium exposure in Colorado mines reported that of 4,146 miners 509 died during the eighteen year observation period, with an expected 386 deaths in that population (115). The deaths were caused predominantly by lung cancer and renal disease. Similar findings have been reported from different parts of the world, such as the recent studies of reproductive toxicity in Chinese uranium workers (62), silicosis and lung cancer incidence in New Mexico (116), recent German studies on uranium miners describing changes of immune system (88), and alterations of chromosomal and endocrine alterations in Namibian miners (117). All studies are in general agreement regarding the toxic properties of uranium compounds for the human population.